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What to feed Guinea Pigs? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South Yorkshire
Posts: 344
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What to feed Guinea Pigs?
Hi, we're new to Guinea Pigs and we got our two girls about 9 days ago now. We're slowly getting used to them and them to us and so far so good.
The only thing we're really struggling with is finding a combination of veg to feed them. Our list of everyday food consists of: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, sprouts, kale and red pepper. Then we have things like carrot, babycorn/corn on cob/apples/cherry tomatoes every now and then. I just wonder if anyone has any other foods they can have every day/more regularly that I could try them with. They don't touch sprouts and don't always eat cauliflower but sometimes eat the leaves and sometimes I struggle with what to give them so they have a mix. Can they have parnsip, grapes, yellow/green pepper, asparagus or anything else? Online information is conflicting, so any help would be greatly appreciated. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 336
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My guinea pigs favourite food are lettuce, carrot cucumber, tomatoes and apples along with their pellets.
I also pick them grass to put in their cage and they go mad for it ![]() Also if you have dandelions in your garden try them on them, mine love them. I've tried them on grapes but they weren't keen, they also like yellow and green peppers too ![]() I also tried them on a Brussels sprout for crimbo but they weren't keen |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 16,008
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Never iceberg lettuce but other types are fine for them. Fresh herbs of various types are often favourites. The leafy parts of celery are usually loved too. Any colour pepper is fine (green is the best due to lowest sugar content). Fruit should be given sparingly for the same reason.
You're giving them an awful lot of stuff there that is likely to cause gas - this can lead to painful and sometimes fatal gas build up if they don't handle it well so be careful with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. Tbh I would only give them one of those and in very small amounts. You also need to be careful with high calcium veg (this includes kale, spinach and parsley as well as dandelion which they love) as it can build up in their bladder and cause painful stones. At the end of the day, remember to look at the veggies as treats. A good 85% of their diet should consist of a good quality Timothy hay (you can use alfalfa for young one) because it both wears their teeth down and contains the fibre needed to keep their guts going. The rest should be guinea pig nuggets (not muesli) and then veg. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South Yorkshire
Posts: 344
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Quote:
My guinea pigs favourite food are lettuce, carrot cucumber, tomatoes and apples along with their pellets.
I also pick them grass to put in their cage and they go mad for it ![]() Also if you have dandelions in your garden try them on them, mine love them. I've tried them on grapes but they weren't keen, they also like yellow and green peppers too ![]() I also tried them on a Brussels sprout for crimbo but they weren't keen All three colour peppers are now on my shopping list. I've still got grapes and apples to try them with but they will probs be something that is given as an occasional treat. Lettuce and tomato are also down to try now, thank you. I've thrown the sprouts in the bin, mine definitely don't like them! Quote:
Never iceberg lettuce but other types are fine for them. Fresh herbs of various types are often favourites. The leafy parts of celery are usually loved too. Any colour pepper is fine (green is the best due to lowest sugar content). Fruit should be given sparingly for the same reason.
You're giving them an awful lot of stuff there that is likely to cause gas - this can lead to painful and sometimes fatal gas build up if they don't handle it well so be careful with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. Tbh I would only give them one of those and in very small amounts. You also need to be careful with high calcium veg (this includes kale, spinach and parsley as well as dandelion which they love) as it can build up in their bladder and cause painful stones. At the end of the day, remember to look at the veggies as treats. A good 85% of their diet should consist of a good quality Timothy hay (you can use alfalfa for young one) because it both wears their teeth down and contains the fibre needed to keep their guts going. The rest should be guinea pig nuggets (not muesli) and then veg. They have constant access to hay and at the minute we're splitting nuggets into two servings and trying to get the veg in somewhere in the middle. I will add spinach and parsley to the list of stuff for them to try. Thanks both for your replies
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sitting at my PC
Posts: 9,435
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I always gave my pigs loads of natural food that I'd pick from the garden or the hedgerow. Grass is their favourite without a doubt. Also dandelion leaves, Groundsel, Shepherd purse, Milk thistle. They also eat Apples, Cucumber, Celery, carrots, Swede, cabbage stalks and leaves, banana. Make sure they have hay ad lib and fresh water daily. I always thought lettuce was bad for them so I never gave mine lettuce. Any other green vegetable is fine.
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Castleford
Posts: 1,230
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I've been keeping piggys for 15 years now and I have never fed mine any lettuce or tomato as I was always told they were very poisonous.
My two love cucumber and celery, and are rather partial to parsley too. They're a pair of fussy girls though and will go through phases like they're off Apple and carrot at the moment but love pepper, but previously they've loved carrot and left pepper. The two boys I had before them would eat anything you put in front of them. Most of my piggys have lived till at least 5 or 6 one was nearly 10 so we must do something right lol. Best pets I've ever had. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Essex
Posts: 16,218
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Just to clarify that iceburg lettuce is NOT poisons to piggies. It is however low in nutritional value and is basically water, same with cucumber. If piggies have a poor diet then it can contribute to diarrhoea.
Rest of the advice has already been covered. Fresh grass and hay is the best though be careful that you don't pick grass that has been sprayed with insecticide or animals may have poo'ed on it. Nuggets instead of muesli will stop them picking out the stuff they don't like. Keep high sugar fresh fruit and veg for treats, this includes carrots btw. Be careful with greens that can cause gas, piggies are poor at dealing with them. Finally it goes without saying that make sure they have access to fresh clean water at all times. |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sitting at my PC
Posts: 9,435
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Quote:
Just to clarify that iceburg lettuce is NOT poisons to piggies. It is however low in nutritional value and is basically water, same with cucumber. If piggies have a poor diet then it can contribute to diarrhoea.
Rest of the advice has already been covered. Fresh grass and hay is the best though be careful that you don't pick grass that has been sprayed with insecticide or animals may have poo'ed on it. Nuggets instead of muesli will stop them picking out the stuff they don't like. Keep high sugar fresh fruit and veg for treats, this includes carrots btw. Be careful with greens that can cause gas, piggies are poor at dealing with them. Finally it goes without saying that make sure they have access to fresh clean water at all times. There is too much waste with muesli type food as they pick out the bits they like. I used to feed mine with Burgess Excel Nuggets. Expensive but they did eat all of it. Years ago they used to say that guinea pigs don't need water as they get moisture from the food they eat. This is rubbish of course. Mine drank a lot of water and used to squeak if their bottle was empty. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South Yorkshire
Posts: 344
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Thanks for your further replies.
We tried spinach, spring greens and yellow/green peppers and they eat them. We also tried parsnip and swede, which they turned their noses up at and corn on the cob (instead of babycorn), which got nibbled by one pig, the other just ignored it. This week, they are trying asparagus, I think it wil be going in the bin! I found a list of foods on the PDSA website so will try them with a few of those. In the coming weeks we're going to try parsley, watercress, rocket and maybe apple/grapes (depending what fruit we have). I'm treating everything as 'in moderation' at the minute due to all the conflicting advice out there in books/ on the web. It's a joy getting to know these little piggies
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sitting at my PC
Posts: 9,435
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Quote:
Thanks for your further replies.
We tried spinach, spring greens and yellow/green peppers and they eat them. We also tried parsnip and swede, which they turned their noses up at and corn on the cob (instead of babycorn), which got nibbled by one pig, the other just ignored it. This week, they are trying asparagus, I think it wil be going in the bin! I found a list of foods on the PDSA website so will try them with a few of those. In the coming weeks we're going to try parsley, watercress, rocket and maybe apple/grapes (depending what fruit we have). I'm treating everything as 'in moderation' at the minute due to all the conflicting advice out there in books/ on the web. It's a joy getting to know these little piggies ![]() |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Birmingham
Posts: 1,051
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: the land of the hobbit.
Posts: 8,839
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my two girls who are three and two, have a bag of spinach per day, 2-3 baby toms, quarter of a cucumber, stick of celery, slice yellow pepper, gurty pig food...burgess dandelion and marigold eating hay handful.. every couple of days they also have a little cauliflower or broccoli, and carrot. the bedding hay when i clean them out is the long cut meadow hay..
every time i open fridge door, they squeek.. lol.. they love sliced runner beans.. take them out of my hand.. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: the land of the hobbit.
Posts: 8,839
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I suggest OP joins this forum.. i have been a member for years..
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...-enrichment.9/ |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,871
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my mum's piggie's enjoyed slices of orange which is good for them because of the vit c, my Mum had 20 piggie's ( all rescue ) they lived in a heated shed and had a massive run in the garden ( never had to use a lawn mower to the cut grass after those little guy's had finished lol
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: the land of the hobbit.
Posts: 8,839
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Quote:
my mum's piggie's enjoyed slices of orange which is good for them because of the vit c, my Mum had 20 piggie's ( all rescue ) they lived in a heated shed and had a massive run in the garden ( never had to use a lawn mower to the cut grass after those little guy's had finished lol
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